What a way to cap off a week!
Thanks to a much-better-than-anticipated 8.3% unemployment figure, something not seen since February of 2009, the markets surged to their own multiyear high-water marks. Unfortunately, not every blue chip performed well today, but before we dive in, let's see how exactly the three largest indices fared in the week's last trading session.
|
Gain / Loss |
Gain / Loss % |
Ending Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
156.82 | 1.23% | 12,862.23 |
Nasdaq | 45.98 | 1.61% | 2,905.66 |
S&P 500 | 19.36 | 1.46% | 1,344.90 |
With the recovery picking up steam, all three indices are putting in impressive gains. For believers in "the January effect," there is now over a 96% chance that the markets will have a strong showing for all of 2012, and so far February is continuing that trend. Today the Nasdaq hit an 11-year high-water mark and all but two of the thirty Dow stocks were green. Those two stocks are what we are now going to focus on.
Unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner, as investors in Procter & Gamble
The other underachieving Dow stock was Merck
The good news, however, is that a rising tide should lift all most boats, and investors with smartly diversified portfolios get to float into the weekend slightly richer.
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